Welcome to THE FITNESS CONDUIT, the home for Coach Michael Rutherford and CrossFit Kansas City. We are the only licensed CrossFit program in Johnson County. Copyright Boot Camp Fitness L.L.C. 2001-2010.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

It's a good time of year to evaluate any goals and objective you have established for yourself. Typically the launching of a new year, comes with renewed vigor on existing goals/objectives and the creation or modification of one or several goals/objectives. In reflecting on the first quarter of 2008 how are you doing? Are your goals realistic? Do you need to adjust?

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Started using the Warm-Up Moves DVD and am quite pleased. Physical benefits aside, I have a better mental state when I begin the workout. The first round doesn't seem to be so frightening. I don't no if that's a result of the nervous system being prepared or simply the blood flowing, but it works!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

It's our tradition to start the Bocce ball games once the sunbathers head inside for cocktails. This typically falls around 1700. If you stone a bluehair with leather skin it tends to be bad for public relations. Jeff Rut was crowned the overall champion with his Tuesday evening victory.

7 Rounds for time:

5 Dumbbell Clean Box Jumps*10 Push-ups

* Use 25% of body weight. If the notion of cleaning dumbbells while jumping bothers you, hold the load, shrug and jump to the box. If either idea makes you weak. Just jump to a box.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

You have no doubt heard my soap box campaign regarding sleep. Sleep is more powerful than the ZONE DIET or your workout program. On whole, we are sleeping 15% less than a decade ago. This leads to impaired memory, reduced learning and reaction time (accidents). In addition chronic partial sleep of as little as 4 days results in reduced levels of leptin (overeating usually sugar) and the bodies ability to metabolize sugars. The folks at 60 Minutes have 25 minutes worth of video from last Sunday's programming you will want to see. I would get there soon, as they will no doubt expire following next weeks show.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

I was back reading Art Devany's Eassy this morning. I happened upon the Power Walking section (see below). This reminded me of the SANDBAG MILE buzz I initiated back in 2004. The SANDBAG MILE method is simple. The goal is to progress to a mile carry with 100% of bodyweight sandbag in 15 minutes. Each time you put the bag down on the ground you receive a 15 second penalty.

I can recall only a few who have successfully accomplished this challenge. I would make this a 12 week target. Use sub bodyweight loads and get the time interval. Assuming you can shoulder your bag, you can perform repeats at the target pace. With other training during the week about 2 workouts with the sand is all I can recommend. Remember it's the process that counts!

Our ancestors walked a lot carrying heavy weight in order to move camp and bring back as much of the kill as they could. Power walking, laden with real weight on the order of 35 to 100 pounds, is an effective modern version of what our ances- tors did. Power walking with back pack or scuba diving weights around the waist dramatically increases the intensity and effectiveness of walking. And it is about as effective as jogging for aerobic capacity, without the pounding and damage. It is what women among hunter-gatherers do when they gather. For example, Kung San women typically carry an infant on a seven-mile trip foraging for plant foods and return with a 35-pound load. They only do this 2 or 3 times a week for they live in a kind of natural affluence where food is readily available. Males among hunter-gatherers do not carry the large game our ancestors did and are not a good model of power walking for modern males. Consider this instead as a model. A historical source reports that 5 Indian braves drove 5 bison into a pit. After they killed these 2000-pound bison, they pulled them out of a pit more than 10 feet deep, lined them up and skinned and butchered them. Then, they carried as much as they could back to camp to get others to return for the rest. I think that is a wonderful model of fitness, combining speed, power, strength, stamina and courage. You can be sure this successful hunt was followed by plenty of rest and play and feasting. This model is what I seek to emulate.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

I've randomly used ZMA over the last six years. I recently started using NOW FOODS brand and I'm uber (Wolfism) impressed with the quality of my sleep. ZMA works best 30 minutes before bed time on an empty stomach. I'm downing ZMA Monday-Friday with breaks on Saturday and Sunday.

Zinc , Magnesium and Vitamin B6 ZMA is a well known natural supplement , scientifically designed to enhance anabolic processes, endurance and muscle strength. ZMA contains zinc monomethionine aspartate , magnesium aspartate and vitamin B-6. Many athletes use ZMA as higher intensity sports often lead to zinc and magnesium deficiency (which is common) which can result in fatigue , muscle damage and a drop in testosterone levels.Studies show that a daily supplementation of 30mgs of zinc and 450mgs of magnesium can boost testosterone levels up to 30%, the vitamin b6 in ZMA is mainly used to improve the absorption of the zinc and magnesium.

Friday, March 7, 2008

When any of my athletes report sore backs and posterior, I have them strategically position golf balls or Spikey balls on the sore(tight) spots. This will do a surprisingly good job of loosening up the affected area.

Tabata Intervals are 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest repeated 8 times. This workout applies Tabata Intervals sequentially to Rowing, Burpee Pullups, Wall ball and Sit-ups, with a one minute rotation break between exercises. Each exercise is scored by the weakest number of reps (calories on the rower) in each of the eight intervals.